It was a nice surprise when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced his appointment of Diorella Maria “Lala” Sotto-Antonio as the new chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). After all, Lala, as we all know her, has served as Quezon City councilor for six terms or18 years. Being chairman of MTRCB was a perfect career diversion for her since this was the industry where her parents, former Senate President Vicente Sotto III and the lovely Helen Gamboa Sotto started their careers, met and eventually married.
Lala graduated at the DLSU College of St. Benilde and took executive education twice at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Her love for public service started when she was in college, having been exposed to public service because of her father.
“Back in college during my senior year, I was already asking my parents if I would be allowed to run for councilor of Quezon City. Mom was okay with it but Dad didn’t want me to enter politics. I had sought help from my professors to give me recommendation letters addressed to my father, recommending me to run for politics. It was as if I was applying for a job. My father was stoic. Then, one day, with the help of my friends and professors, I asked them to help me put up my own foundation. It was my Ate Apples who first helped me with the activities I wanted to do for my foundation when she saw how interested I was in putting up the KASAMA foundation. When my parents learned about this, they supported me and gave me permission to run for councilor in 2001. Today, KASAMA foundation has over 10,000 members and the rest is history,” shares Lala.
Lala’s role models are her father for his integrity, resilience, humility, authenticity, and leadership; her mother for being devoted to her children and husband; Sen. Grace Poe for her grace and for being highly principled and intelligent; Queen Elizabeth for her commitment to the Lord, her oath, and her family; and Queen Esther for her kindness and faith in God.
As MTRCB chair, she intends to strengthen its network of parent-partners, which will help the monitoring functions of the board. To further expand the “Responsableng Panonood” campaign, they will establish a nationwide network of parents’ groups that will help the agency in monitoring movies and television programs. The general idea here is for the chairperson to appoint parent deputies with representation from different sectors and different provinces or regions. They will be conducting webinars, orientation seminars for deputized parents and supervising adults.
Another activity is the MTRCB’s Family and Media Summit (FaMe Summit). This is a gathering of parents, students, educators, media practitioners and social media influencers that aims to spark meaningful discussions about the ratings system, media guidance, and family viewership in the digital age.
This is what our MTRCB chair intends to do in 2023:
For the film and TV industry:
1. Promote and encourage core Filipino family value-based films and TV programs. I think we can start with the rating classifications, given that we are conservative in giving classifications. The higher the rating classification, the less people are expected to watch because cinemas aren’t allowed to accept the age below the given classification. It is our core mandate to deliver value-based media and entertainment and therefore we call the attention of producers for both films and television programs when we find inappropriate content.
That is why I came up with the Responsableng Panonood program, which aims to equip and empower the parents with the parental control features of certain apps and their ability to choose the right content for their children. Under the Responsableng Panonood program, we also partner with content creators to balance the needs of the industry with the concerns of the viewing public. We want to build a collaborative relationship with all our stakeholders in order to formulate policies for the best interest of the youth, and at the same time allow the creative industry to thrive.
2. Be an enabling partner of the film and TV industries to promote responsible self-regulation. MTRCB intends to have a meaningful partnership with its industry stakeholders by promoting “co-regulation,” by which MTRCB and the movie and television industries have a shared responsibility on promoting and protecting the well-being of the children and youth through age-appropriate motion picture content while respecting their creative freedom for the betterment of the entertainment industry.
3. Strengthen dynamic partnerships with industry stakeholders, government and non-government instrumentalities, and/or organizations. Our plan for the Industry Stakeholder Engagement is first, for the MTRCB to host stakeholder meetings and round-table discussions that will serve as a venue to raise public awareness on the agency’s policies and programs and at the same time, boost engagement with our stakeholders. We will also be having joint projects with other government agencies.
For the MTRCB Board and workforce:
4. Support continuing learning and development opportunities for the MTRCB Board and Employees to capacitate them to improve their service level standards to give Filipinos the service they deserve.
5. Ensure that the MTRCB is able to respond to the shifting and growing needs of all of our stakeholders, and one means is to ensure we conduct dialogue with relevant interested parties both internal and external to the Agency.
For the Filipino family:
6. Help Filipino families make an informed choice on the type of media content they will expose themselves or their families to, through the effective MTRCB rating and classification guide.
7. Promote Responsableng Panonood among Filipinos by instilling the value of shared responsibility at the household level, helping individuals realize that protecting children against inappropriate film and television content involves a whole-of-nation approach and that MTRCB does its part.
8. Establish a network of multi-sector allies who will serve as Responsableng Manonood advocates (parent-partners) who share the same concern and vision to provide a safe-viewing experience for children.
9. Provide localized MTRCB ratings such that any Filipino will be able to clearly understand the guidance given by the agency. It is our vision to provide TV and Film ratings in all major dialects.
10. Enhance the capacity of MTRCB deputies, parent-partners, and Responsableng Manonood groups to help the agency to monitor compliance from the TV and film industries by conducting webinars/seminars that aim to inform and educate them on how to effectively discharge their duties.
(We welcome your suggestions and comments. Please e-mail me at monsrt@gmail.com. Follow me on Instagram @monsromulo.)